Contact tracing underway for returned Miles traveller

ON SUNDAY the coronavirus virus officially arrived on the Western Downs with a confirmed case in the town of Miles.

Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service confirmed through social media the Miles patient was a returned traveller.

Queensland Health today announced the patient is in a stable condition with mild symptoms and is currently recovering at home, with daily check-ins by clinical staff.

Due to the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) now in Queensland, they are unable to provide any further details at this time.

A Queensland Health spokeswoman confirmed that contact tracing is currently underway to prevent the infection from spreading further through the community.

"This is to determine where they caught the virus and who they might have passed it on to," the spokeswoman said.

"It involves getting in touch with people who may have been in close contact with and infected by the person confirmed to have the disease.

"We are not looking for people the person may have passed on the street or in a shop, as the risk in these situations is extremely low.

"We are looking for people who have had face-to-face contact with a confirmed case for a period more than 15 minutes or those who have shared an enclosed space with a confirmed case for more than two hours."

Yesterday, the Darling Downs Health had 24 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Darling Downs Health region.